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“I’m nervous.” We faced each other. “I want to come but I need to help Emma with her wedding plans and...”

“Aye,” he smoothed the hair back from my face. “We have tae learn tae breathe again, both of us. We are holdin’ our breath for what comes next.” He tilted my chin up and kissed me. “I winna be gone long.”

“Okay, definitely.” He climbed up on Sunny and looked majestic and so freaking happy that I did breathe a little better. “Have a really good ride, okay love?”

“Och aye, tis a beautiful day. I will see ye at home, mo reul-iuil.” My husband rode his favorite horse across the sand dunes to the beach and turned north.

I walked back to my waiting car and spoke to it. “Mustang, we will try our best not to let his love of Sunny make us jealous. You will always be my favorite horse.” I slid into the driver’s seat to ride home.

4 - KAITLYN

Zach and Emma were waiting for me in the kitchen to discuss the wedding plans, though talking with them about anything these days was difficult, because every waking hour with Ben was spent corralling, redirecting, watching, scooping up, and speaking to him in caveman-style sentences. “Ben doesn’t want to put the key in the light socket, Ben wants to play blocks.” Everything in the house that was breakable had been moved to waist level. Most of the floor was strewn with toys and cardboard books.

The night before we had given Ben pots and pans to bang and then he screamed when Zach decided the pots were too loud. Magnus joked, “Tis good to be at peace in our home.” We all laughed. It was funny, but for Magnus it was also true. Even with the clamorous bang-banging of the pans this was the most peace in a long time. And for Magnus, Ben could do no wrong.

Ben was up in Emma’s sling, riding on her hip for our discussion. Zach and I sat at the kitchen counter while Emma stood beside us, rocking, dancing, swaying, passing things to Ben hoping to keep him preoccupied.

“First, where do you want to get married?” I had a notepad in front of me. They were already planning, but my own list was necessary.

Emma said, “I heard the Ocean Club does it. A beach wedding with a place for dinner if we can book it on short notice.”

“That would be perfect, we can call them next. How many guests?”

Zach said, “Us five.”

Emma huffed.

I cut my eyes at him. “Now let’s think about this, is that really the end goal here?”

“No, but that’s all that I want.”

Emma said, “By my count the number will be sixty-five guests: Immediate family, friends, some extras.”

I stuck my tongue out at Zach. “I like Emma’s number much better. So who will cater this extravaganza?”

“Me,” said Zach.

“That’s not really how it works.”

“You tell him,” Emma said, “I can’t get him to listen to me.”

I put down my pen. “It goes without saying that you could if you wanted to, but part of being Magnus’s private chef is that you get to afford to have a wedding catered by someone else. He has a never-before-seen Picasso hanging on his wall and all he wants to do with his money is make sure his family is comfortable. You’re a part of his family.”

“There aren’t any other chefs that I want, except — okay, I’ll call someone, but I’m not happy about it.”

I grinned. “Here’s the thing, Zach, you love Emma right? You want to marry her. 100% of it is showing off to the world how much you love her and what you can provide for her. That’s the whole purpose. You aren’t supposed to have fun or even like the day much. It’s not even for you. It’s for everyone else.”

“You got married in a small wedding.”

“I didn’t have to prove anything to anybody. As a matter of fact I didn’t want anyone to know about it because the whole thing was crazy-town. You need everyone to witness your amazing wedding, because though you guys aren’t crazy-town somehow you have to prove it.”

“You’re right, I’m just being...” He reached for Emma’s hand.

I said, “So that brings me to this: Magnus and I discussed it and we have two gifts for you. You only get to take one. I’m going to tell you what they both are and you and Emma get to discuss them and tell us which one you want.”

I drew the number one on a new fresh piece of paper. “Magnus and I pay for the whole wedding, everything. At the wedding we tell everyone that Magnus paid for it all because you are his star chef and he admires you so much that he wanted to. This makes Magnus seem very wealthy and powerful and your career seem important.” I wrote ‘We Pay’ beside the number.

I wrote a two. “The second gift is Magnus and I don’t pay for the wedding, you do. And Magnus tells everyone at the party that he wanted to pay for the wedding, but you insisted because you are that kind of guy and you make plenty of money. In this one Magnus makes a speech at the reception about how much he admires you and it brings everyone to tears.” I wrote ‘Big Speech.’